This invention relates to buildings of the type constructed with cardboard panels.
Heretofore, as exemplified by the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,290, buildings have been formed with both the building walls and roof comprised of a series of cardboard panels formed from flat cardboard blanks. The blanks have been bent or folded to form a central elongated section from which two side sections extend right angularly. The top ends of the wall panels have been folded inwardly along an incline oriented perpendicularly to the slope of the mating roof panels. The lower ends of the roof panels have similarly been tucked in to fit flush against the inclined end flap members of the mating wall panels. So formed, the wall and roof panels are fastened together side by side to form the building walls and roof. To impart structural integrity to the assembled walls and roof conventional wooden trusses, studs, collar members, joists, gussets and beams are mounted to each of the roof and wall panels. The siding and joined sections are preferably coated with fiberglass for reinforcement and weather resistance.
Although buildings of the structure just described formed of a plurality of cardboard panels have offered obvious savings in the cost of building materials, they have yet to meet with significant commercial success. The design details of the wall and roof panels have had to be relatively complex to assure a mutually flush mounting of the roof and wall panel member ends. Each time the slope of the roof is altered for aesthetic or climatic reasons, both the roof and wall panel ends must ordinarily be redesigned to accommodate for such. The necessity for wooden structural members mounted to each panel has substantially mitigated the very savings in construction material costs that these type of buildings have sought to achieve through use of cardboard. Where the entire panels have been coated with fiberglass a flush fit between adjoining panels has been difficult to achieve due to irregularities in the fiberglass surface. Differentials in needed roof and wall panel strengths has also failed to be solved in an efficient and economic manner.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved building formed of cardboard panels.
Another general object of the invention is to provide an improved panel member for a building of the type described.
More specifically, it is the object of the present invention to provide a building of the type described having minimal need for internal support structures such as joists, gussets, trusses, studs, collars and beams.
Another object of the invention is to provide a building of the type described having improved structural simplicity and economy.
Another object of the invention is to provide a building of the type described in which the roof overhangs the walls to inhibit rainwater from draining from the roof directly onto the walls.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a building of the type described in which the roof and wall panels are of substantially similar shape and construction but with the roof panels having substantially greater tensile strength than the wall panels.
Still another object of the invention is to provide roof and wall panels of the type described that are selectively coated with reinforcing fiberglass while yet retaining substantially uniform thickness.